


Blame Me for Your Pain

by CegLgMn



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Blood, Blood Drinking, Blood Sharing, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fight Scenes, Fights, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Gore, Mild Language, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Swearing, They all have special powers, Trauma, War, its kool ok?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:53:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25506991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CegLgMn/pseuds/CegLgMn
Summary: They lost one of their own a long time ago, and lost more of themselves during the aftermath.So imagine his surprise when he saw the face under the mask. The same face that a certain someone had before he was sent out to his death 3 years ago, “Zak, is that you?”There was a frown, and confusion swept over the smaller’s features, “Who… is Zak?”Who knew that encounter was going to sweep the balance of the world to oblivion. Goddamn people amirite?A Minecraft AU that I procrastinated about before DSMP was a thing, so uh fuck timelines.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Zak Ahmed & Dave | Technoblade
Comments: 11
Kudos: 138





	1. Welcome to Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Character death, fight scenes

The hot, dry air of the Nether scorched his throat as Zak ran past another part of the fortress, ducking past another group of wither skeletons. His senses were working overtime. The hairs on his neck stood up, and he dodged in time before the fireballs from the blazes that were chasing him whizzed past.

He hid behind another pillar, trying to catch his breath. Which was a little hard since his throat was almost raw from trying to get air in. He was definitely annoyed, and rasped out into his comms. “Guys, scouting’s gone bad. I just got jumped by the wither skellies and blazes in the fortress.”

Zak licked his chapped lips, trying to get any kind of moisture in them. Adrenaline was running through his veins, his hands were shaking as he gripped the sword in his hand tighter. The gruff growling of zombie pigmen were closing in onto his position, and he closed his eyes, letting out a huff. This might be it, he thought, and let out a low chuckle. He had thought this exact line too many times in the past months.

A deep, monotone voice rang into his ear, easily recognisable as Dave’s, “Dream’s getting to your position from his pos, and Darryl’s coming from camp.” A sense of urgency slipped into its voice, “How long do you think you can hold?”

“Not long, 10 minutes max, I hear pigmen incoming and there’s lava below.” Zak pushed himself off the pillar, turning his entire body into cold, hard diamond. “I won’t promise anything though.”

_In this world, there are Players. Players are the protectors of the people because of their supposed immortality._

“Good luck.” That was the last thing he heard before Zak charged straight into the horde. He swung his sword and knocked off the head of a pigman before slamming his sword into a blaze. He used his off hand to crush the skull of another and threw it towards a group of charging pigmen. The adrenaline rush worked to his advantage, and he repeated the killing process again.

He was starting to feel numb to the hits the mobs were getting in once in a while, and he moved in a trance. Muscle memory taking over, he hacked and slashed the horde away. Zak was reaching his limit, and he accidentally let a wither skeleton get a hit on him. “Fuck.”

He disposed of the pest, and blocked off a room with cobblestone. He watched as the wither sickness slowly crept up his left arm, and dread sunk into his heart. “Skep?” It was Darryl.

Zak managed out a hoarse, “Hey.”

“Dream’s close to you, just hang in there.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Skeppy, Zak, Zak, Zak. Please, don’t scare me like that.”

“I’m so sorry.” He could barely breathe now.

“Don’t talk like that Zak, this isn’t another one of your trolls.” Darryl was about to ramble again.

Zak knew, and he let out another sad chuckle before he cut him off. “I got withered.”

There was a pause. “I’m not far behind. I’ll be able to heal you. Just hold them off for a bit longer.”

Mobs were breaking through the cobble wall, he didn't have that much time, especially with the wither hindering his movements. He slid down the fortress wall. He had come to terms with his fate, the adrenaline wearing off fast. He felt sore and tired and he just wanted a rest from this year long war.

_That immortality is limited though, since they can only regenerate and recover from death like states when they are in the Overworld._

There was a crack, a thump, and the wall broke. Zak braced himself for the flood of mobs that were going to spill in. They never came. Instead, in their place was a very familiar person with a very familiar smiley face mask.

“Get up. We’re getting you to your mom.” Dream had offered a hand to him.

Zak blinked blearily, and grabbed the offered hand before huffing out, “Bad’s not my mom.” He scowled at the hand, “We don’t even have moms.”

“Sorry, boyfriend.”

“Dream.” Zak scowled at him instead.

“Just kidding.”

Zak can hear his smirk with that sentence, and he couldn’t help but smile a bit. That lasted a whole 5 seconds before the light mood was interrupted by Zak doubling over and coughing out black spit. He looked over his diamond body, and saw that the sickness had already spread across his chest.

“Shit, how long do you have?”

“Don’t know and I think I might give up now.”

Zak can see the pity in Dream’s eyes, “Come on, just let me get you to Darryl.”

Zak let himself be dragged out of the Nether Fortress, trusting Dream’s sense of direction. Zak almost thought that they would get out successfully before the entire fortress started to shake and debris started falling.

“This way.” The two ran after the first exit they saw. Coincidentally, Darryl’s dark form was there to greet them.

“Guys.” A bright white smile peered from his hood. Then, a look of surprise passed over his features, which quickly turned into horror. “Oh my goodness, look behind.”

They turned around to be faced with an entire army of Nether mobs, who gave way to the three-headed Wither beast.

_That means that if Players die in another dimension without a recoverable body, they are lost forever._

Zak couldn’t see Dream’s face, but he could almost see the calculations he had running through his brain. After a sudden blast from the Wither itself, Dream jerked everyone back into action. “Run and get to the others, there’s no way any of us can hold them long enough for a distraction.”

Well, Dream did try. Zak was slowing down significantly, and ofcourse the wither sickness was to blame. His limbs were almost completely covered with the corruption. Traces of it creeping up his neck while his eyes were a glossed over milky white.

Zak knew they were staring and he wanted to hide himself. He was to blame for this and he knew it. Because of his incompetence, he had let that stupid skeleton hit him. And because of him, they wouldn’t see the Wither aiming for the netherrack above them. Since Zak was known for doing stupid things, might as well add some crazy in there.

The Wither let out another blast, and it landed right where Zak anticipated. He summoned the last bit of strength that was left in his weakened state, and pushed the others out of the way after mumbling a soft goodbye to the both of them.

“No! You muffinhead!” Bad had practically screeched out loud.

Zak could hear the raw, unfiltered sorrow in his voice, but it was too late, the debris had fallen atop him. He could hear their muffled voices through the rubble. How Darryl wanted to save him and how Dream thinks it’s a lost cause.

But it’ll be fine, his diamond form would relieve him of the pain he would feel. It’ll be fine, he’ll pass out from the sickness before the diamond form would disappear. It’ll be fine, his sacrifice got them to safety, so everything will be fine. Because maybe, just maybe, Darryl would be safe for longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want more adventure fics with these ppl :<
> 
> I write these people's personas.


	2. New Player in Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Cursing, fight scenes, mentions of sexual themes, ptsd flashbacks

You know, Dave really didn’t want to deal with anything today. He had just gotten back from a victory in a small Skywars tourney. Which gave him enough money to last him till the end of the month, so he thought that he could laze around a bit. Apparently, the gods just didn’t want him to rest, which was really mean of them. Like why, why would you do this?

Let me explain. 

He was just settling into a cheap inn, shrugging off his red leather jacket and putting down his travelling pack. The boar-hybrid shifted his features back from his intimidating tusks and tough skin, to the softer and more sensitive human ones. No longer needing to keep up the tough facade of the 1,818 bedwars winstreak champion, Dave laid down on the crummy sheets.

He was just about to doze off when he heard a soft meow sound from the direction of the one lone window in this small room. He opened one eye to see which stray cat decided to annoy him at this time of day before, “Ian?”

The blue stare of the feline felt judgmental as Dave sat up from his spot on the bed. Ian tilted his head back as if signalling the Player to follow him. The cat yawned and stretched, getting ready to leave, and Dave scrambled to get up with him. Then, he leapt out into the dark empty street. 

Dave stared down the street, mulling over if he really should follow the small animal. He peaked over the window, seeing Ian narrowing his eyes at him before stalking off into one of the alleyways. So, he gave in. The Player jumped down through the window of his room, and took off towards the direction he last saw Ian. 

The alley was dark and smelled of years of unsanitary activities that Dave did not want to imagine. He strolled further down the path, already having lost Ian in the darkness. His eyes lazily scanned his surroundings. The moon’s dim rays illuminated the place in a soft eerie glow, paired along with the heavy atmosphere of the damned place. No sane person would want to be here, especially at night, but who needs sanity anyways? Definitely not Technoblade.

Who does this man think he is? Dave jerked his hand out, catching the fist that was swung at him. He used the person’s momentum to swing his arm away and went to grab the other, almost missing the leg that lashed out at him. Shifting his weight to dodge the limb, Dave held the knife that was in the other’s sleeve to his neck. 

The person held up their hands in surrender. “Glad to know you’re still aware as ever.” A velvety voice snarked out.

Dave softened his stance to let the other man out, “As if.” He handed the knife back to him, “Your cat betrayed you.” Right on cue, Ian jumped down from his perch and curled around his owner’s legs.

Vincent laughed softly, and leaned down to pet the proud feline. “Aww, did Ian give away my position?.” He cooed at him. That earned him a blank stare from both the cat and Dave, and he laughed again.

“So, why’re you here? I doubt it’s just a friendly visit for a spar.” Dave crossed his arms and stared the smaller man down.

Vincent shifted his headband a bit, seemingly to secure it over his eyes tighter, but probably also a nervous habit. “Well, you see, bbh kinda sent me here to get you for a mission per say.”

Dave raised an eyebrow in interest, “I thought you guys disbanded.”

“Still are, mind you.” 

“Well, whatever it is, I don’t want anything to do with it.” He said as he started to push past the former trio member. 

“Wait!” Vincent grabbed his arm, making him stop in his tracks. “Please, consider this. Bad is working his ass off to meet the people’s demands, and you got the connections to make this work.”

“I blocked communication with you guys for a reason.”

Ignoring him, Vincent continued, “He wants you to track someone down for him.” 

Dave turned around to face him, “Who?”

“An unidentified Player that has been running around playing tournaments with high stakes, calls himself Anone Four. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. He has a hundred percent win rate right now, and everyone’s been talking about him.”

Dave sighed, yes, he had heard of the new rising champion that is competing for his titles. But he couldn’t bring himself to care, since he just chalked it up to an anonymous person hyping things up. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of the leaderboards players that he knew. Yet, he had never seen the person compete in a tournament that Dave himself was competing in. 

“Yeah,” Dave combed his hand through curly pink hair out of frustration, “I assume you want me to get him back to the Munchy Base, somehow?” 

“Yeap, doesn’t matter how you do it.” 

“Why, exactly?” Dave huffed out. “What’s the point of doing this?”

Vincent turned on his communicator and opened up file logs of recent Player spawns. “We had Zelk and Mega dig up the spawn rates of Players.” And he scrolled down to the most recent logs. “And there hasn’t been a spawn since Zak’s death, and everyone else was accounted for.”

“It’s an anomaly.”

“Exactly.”

“Great! Absolutely amazing!” Dave’s voice was practically dripping with sarcasm as he stormed off.

“Wait, Dave!”

“I’ll fucking do it, leave me alone now.” 

Vincent heard him yell back at him. He can hear his light footsteps fade away back the way he came. Vincent took off the headband that was obscuring his vision before switching his vision type to heat signatures. His already purple eyes glowed an even more menacing purple, locking onto Dave’s heat signature. Surprisingly, the hybrid wasn’t heading back to the inn, but towards the stadium.

Meanwhile, a message was sent out to a few associates that still kept in contact in case these instances happened, and they set out to a sleepless night of information hunting.  
  


Harvey leaned against the railing of a bridge suspended over a tiny river, waiting for his supposed friends to show up. There was no one around in this secluded area, so it shouldn’t be this hard to spot them. The Player popped open his communicator, checking the time of the meet up. They’re late. He snapped it shut and shoved it back into his inventory. Adjusting his half-mask out of sheer boredom, he relayed the info he got in his head in preparation.

The scenery wasn’t bad though, the place was silent in a way that brings tranquility to a person’s mind. And he got to watch the little critters wander around and go about their little animal lives. So, when a delusory feminine voice said into his ears, “Guess who?” He jumped a little.

“Finn!” Harvey turned around and sneered at the shapeshifter.

Said shifter giggled and switched back to their male form, “Yo!”

“You actually spooked me for a sec.”

“Blame yourself.” Finnster shrugged.

“Not cool.” And Finn bursted into another fit of giggles. “Where’s the piggy?” Harvey asked, trying to change the topic.

“Already here.” Dave appeared from the left side of the bridge.

“Dave!” Finn went up to hug him, but Dave just slinked away from the arms.

“Please, don’t do me like this.” He stepped around the shifter.

“But…”

“No fun allowed.”

Finn actually pouted for a bit.

Harvey cleared his throat to catch their attention, “Guys, we were here for information?”

“Oh, right.” The blue hoodied person responded, and Techno just let out a huge sigh.

Harvey offered himself up first, “Alright, so I got in contact with a few hosts, and asked if they knew if this Anone guy was gonna participate in one of their tourneys.” He opened up a very familiar tournament participant list. “He’s joined one of Hypixel’s Skywars tourney, specifically the one that’s hosted tomorrow.”

“And to think I can catch a break.” Dave rubbed his temples, trying to sooth a headache that was ready to form.

Finnster smirked a bit at his misery, “Well, when I was working in one of those Player bars as a pro-”

“Don’t need to know.” “Stop-” Both Harvey and Dave went to stop his rambles.

“Fine.” He dragged out the word as he rolled his eyes, “Talked to some Players that were up against him. Said he knew dual-wielding, but no one knows his Special and he ain’t even a hybrid.”

“Dual-wielding?” The combat god frowned at that, he only knew one other person that uses the technique other than himself. “What weapons?”

“Swords, and he’s not bad at hand to hand either.”

“That’s… weird.” MegaPVP was the only other person that he had taught dual-wielding to. After Zak’s death, that kid has closed himself up and talked even less than before, practically a mute at this point. Dave took it upon himself to make peace with himself after the fallout, so he talked to Mega and taught him some tricks along the way. But the kid had chosen to use daggers because of his Special.

Additionally, every Player was either spawned into this world as a hybrid, or as a human with a superpower or ability called a Special. In some cases, they would have both. Not a single Player was spawned in without either. Dave made sense of this by concluding that this Player either hides his ability or isn’t even a Player at all. Since he hasn’t lost a single tournament, he would’ve never died. However, that would be against the rules of Minecraft tournaments because its sole purpose was to protect its people by training the Players in a form of entertainment for NPCs. 

“Dave, you’re thinking an awful lot.” Harvey quipped.

“Yeah, why do you care about this so much?” Finn added in. He was sitting on the fences, swinging his legs over the side lazily.

“Nothing.” The hybrid responded, but it didn’t fool the others. Dave had a faraway look in his eyes, so they didn’t bother prying further, already knowing who he’s thinking of.

“Dave?” Finnster asked, softening his tone.

He just waved his hand in their direction, “It’s fine, just…” He paused for a moment. “We got a tournament to crash, c’mon” Dave’s voice was ten times deeper and more throaty than normal, defenses up again. Dave started walking back to civilization with the other two in tow while he opened his communicator to send a quick message to a certain someone.

**Technoblade**

Hey, you think you got a spot or two for that Skywars tournament tomorrow?

**hypixel**

?Is this an iou

**Technoblade**

No as a friend thing happening?

I’m hurt

**hypixel**

jkkkk

already reserved some since a TapL was snooping around yesterday

**Technoblade**

He’s such a bad info broker

**hypixel**

dont blame the guy

my hosts were looking through files

i had to investigate

**Technoblade**

Smh

Sending you my player info now

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Technoblade ended up in the main island, facing off against the anonymous Player as the last two people alive in this tournament. Cam-bots were circling around the two, streaming the face-off to the audience. 

Techno called out to the other, “Who are you?” as he held his two blades close to his chest. His opponent mirroring his movement. Dave was in a bad spot, having less armor than the other hooded figure. He couldn’t gouge his reaction since there was a mask in the way, but he wouldn’t have time anyways because his opponent was already dashing towards him with his swords readied.

Dave blocked the first blow and retaliated with the same vigour, trying to wear down his defenses. Blows were traded the same way for a while before he got through Anone’s defense and cut through his armor. Where he was expecting blood, was none, and he choked on his movements as he saw through the cut, a patch of diamond replacing flesh.

The other Player took this opportunity to knock Techno back, trying to get him off the edge. No, no, no, no, no. This could not be happening. Dave gathered his wits and spaced himself out from his opponent, hopefully, giving him enough time to do a risky play.

He nicked his hand with his tusks, and tasted the blood as the metallic scent filled his nostrils. Dave can feel power surge through his veins, his muscles strengthening with just that one taste. His eyes flooded a dark blood red, signalling the activation of his ability. He didn’t lose often, his pride wouldn’t let him.

So, he waited for the chest refill, looting the first one he saw before rushing straight towards Anone. Dave grappled the other, resulting in a frantic push and shove. Though, his Special kept him fueled. Dave had managed to wrestle the form underneath him off the edge of the island alongside himself, managing to knock his mask off in the process. 

Dave almost had a heart attack. The face under that mask was the same person that he had sent out to his death 3 years ago, “Zak, is that you?”

There was a frown, and confusion swept over the smaller’s features, “Who… is Zak?” 

Techno had so many questions, but those questions weren't enough to deter him from reacting to the free falling that is occurring right now. He quickslotted to his pearls and threw it. Bracing for the impact, he landed upright and went to slam his sword into the ender pearl that had followed his. The figure appearing against the sword and falling back down again, officially breaking his winstreak.

That was all Dave could process before he started convulsing against the ground. He felt his heart rate rise and his breathing becoming shallower, amplified by his Special’s adrenaline surge. His vision was dotted with blaring black and white spots, and he could feel his heart sink. Dread started to fill him as the last images of Zak before his mission flashed through his mind. Zak’s last moments before the battle in the Nether, and his last goodbye over the comms as the sound of debris fell down. Dave feels the warm trickling of all kinds of fluids flow down his face as he choked on another cry. His body curling up into a fetal position. He clutched his head in pain, desperate to get the memories out and he knew he was sobbing uncontrollably. 

The last thing he heard were the voices of the moderators as they gave him the sedative, turning his vision dark and his mind blank in the matter of seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ain't beta'd, rip me.


	3. I Don't Know You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Blood

Dave was standing in the middle of a blood red forest, the sky turning from a bright sunset to a pitch black emptiness. Leaves of matted brown that faded into a crimson red fell endlessly, covering the already red forest floor in another layer of blood red. His vision was hazy because of the heavy and dirtied red fog.

The forest was empty until another humanoid form appeared, and he started seeing even more red. Before he knew it, he had raked his claws through its chest. Blood was covering his arms and chest, but he didn’t care because it was sending blood rushing through him, a sense of thrill. He spotted another person, and he bit and snapped its neck. After savoring the taste, he moved on to find even more prey, resulting in him killing them over and over again in an endless genocidal loop.

Eventually, he found one with pretty wings, bluish gray feathers sleek and long, before a loud crunch sounded. The hellish scream that came from the figure finally cleared the bloodied haze he was in, and he was horrified. Dave went into shock as the form of Philza with his broken wings appeared in his vision, blood creeping through his wounds and mouth.

He shivered as a soft voice whispered behind him, “Why?” And he spun around to face the battered form of Wilbur overshadowing the other people that had fallen victim to his rampage. Dave, filled with regret and fear, suddenly felt the blood that was covering his arms and chest burn. He tried to scream but his voice was drowned out by the silence of the deaths he had caused, and he felt like he was choking on the dense and filthy blood-scented fog.

That was when he opened his eyes to blaring white lights. He tried to curl back into himself to protect himself from the headache inducing lights as the traumatic memories flooded back into his brain like a broken dam. Providing him with shallow breaths and the dark imageries of the nightmare, and he was almost lost to the painful cycle again.

The door to the room opened, making a loud click that snapped him out of his misery. It was one of Hypixel’s admins, judging by the tag that he had hung around his neck. Dave sat up on his bed to try to show that he was awake, but winced from the effort as another sharp sting of pain shot through his system. Just now noticing the thin sheet of cold sweat that clung to his skin, and the bandages that were wrapped around his arms and head.

Dave tried to say something, but his throat burned and he coughed instead. The admin rushed to his side out of worry, holding up a golden yellow drink with a straw attached to it which Dave gladly drank from. Upon tasting, Dave realized that it was golden apple juice. He was taking shallow sips, unable to breathe seeing the pity in the admin’s eyes. He wanted to wipe it off his face out of spite. He didn’t want or need anyone’s pity for having experienced the things he went through.

He knew the golden apple’s healing wasn’t as good as the enchanted one, but he should be fine, physically, in a day or two. The admin placed down the empty glass after he downed it, and said, “I’m just here to tell you that you may go anytime you like. Your friends are outside in the waiting room. I’m pretty sure you know where that is.”

Naturally, he would know since he was a frequent participant in Hypixel’s games, so he nodded.

The admin continued, “They also requested to talk to Anone Four about the legality of his situation.” He paused a bit to think, “If you were wondering, we stopped the livestream when you fell on the ground. So, there shouldn’t be footage of the incident.”

Dave nodded tiredly, already emotionally exhausted and just wanting to go back to his quiet life. The admin left him alone after that, leaving the door slightly open incase he was feeling courageous.

Which he didn’t know if he did.

A loud slam was heard from the waiting room along with the sound of shouting, “What do you mean? You. Don’t. Know?!” The yell triggered a flinch from the Player that was getting interrogated. Harvey was fuming because Zak was acting like he didn’t know crap about his situation, and Harvey knew he was lying. At least, a part of what he said were lies.

“Harvey, maybe you should calm down.” Finnster said in their male form.

“No! He’s fucking lying.” The Player pointed to Zak.

“Harvey-”

“He, was celebrated as a hero, as a knight, as a fighter that died in battle, sacrificing himself to protect his friends.” TapL was seeing red, “Everyone remembered him by that final act, even though it was half questionable. They mourned him throughout the war and after, every year. They fucking mourned him. I was there at his funeral with all the others. Now, the person that everyone was mourning, is sitting right in front of me, claiming to me that he does not know who we are.”

TapL was breathing heavily after. And during a point in his rant, he had moved closer to Finnster, almost back them into the wall. Finn couldn’t find words to reply to that, so they kept quiet. Both of them just stared at each other for a while before Harvey turned and stormed out of the room.

Finn could see that Zak was uncomfortable, shifting in his seat and twiddling his thumb, he sighed. He told Zak to wait there while he made a call, and he too, made to head out of the room. Before he turned the knob, the door pushed opened from the other side, revealing a disheveled pink-haired Player.

“Oh, Dave.” Finn said awkwardly, “He’s over there. Harvey blew a fuse. Hope you saw the snippets I sent of the conversation.”

Dave was taken aback by the mood, but replied anyways, “Yeah, I did. I can take it from here.”

Finn nodded tiredly, and left the two alone in the room.

Dave looked over to the Player sitting in the corner of the room. He was hit with a hard brick wall of nostalgia. Zak, or Anone as he calls himself, almost looked the exact same as the one that he saw around 3-4 years ago. He still had dark untamable hair and scarred tan skin, more scars than he actually remembered but no one was counting. He had a very different style of clothes, significantly darker than before, but what caught him off guard were his eyes. They were darker and duller, lackluster of the bright, bright blue that he remembered when Zak successfully pulls off a prank. He was so conflicted.

“Hello.” He started.

“Hi.” A small voice replied, which was very not like the Zak he remembered. Dave was making comparisons, he knew he was doing it, but he couldn’t stop and he didn’t really have a reason why.

Techno tried to not think about it too much.

“From.” He tried to start before exhaling lightly to try to calm his nerves, “From the messages I saw, you seem to have amnesia.”

“You guys claimed to have known me in my past life, so I guess, yeah.”

“I’m going to ask you a few questions.” He said lightly, “If you don’t feel comfortable answering them, you don’t have to. But do try to answer them to the best of your abilities.”

Zak nodded again.

“You do understand the situation you are in?”

“I…” He hesitated, “Don’t exactly know.”

Dave took a deep breath in, “You were presumed to be dead, 3 years ago, September 5th, 40,487, during the Infernal War” He surprised himself for being able to hold his monotone voice. “According to the records, you were marked as ‘Died in battle’.”

The other’s face contorted into confusion. “How…?”

Already knowing the question asked, he responded, “That’s why I’m questioning you right now. We are just trying to help you.” He continued before the other could respond, “What is your name?”

The answer was almost instantaneous, “Skeppy.”

“Do you remember your given name?”

“That is my given name?”

“No. That was your screen name, your Player name.” And he repeated himself, “Do you remember your given name?”

“No.”

Dave went to rub his temples, closing his eyes to think, “What was the first thing you remember?”

Skeppy contemplated about his answer for a bit, “I remember feeling like I was burning. Then, I suddenly wasn’t and everything was confusing and there was rain. I didn’t know where I was, but someone helped me.”

“How?” Skeppy seemed to be conflicted, “I remember them saying that I had a fever, so they treated my sickness and my injuries. It was all so hazy, I can’t remember much of it.”

Techno sighed, checked if his communicator was recording the conversation, and proceeded after he was satisfied, “Do you remember why you joined the tournaments?”

“They said that I was a Player and most Players enter tournaments to earn, so they showed me how to get in them. After that I never saw them again.”

“Do you remember when this happened?”

“A few months ago.”

“Be more specific, please.”

“Uhh…” He frowned, “Late November?”

Dave grunted, good enough for him. He really wanted to keep the mood lighthearted, really, he did. “Why did you change your name and hide your appearance when you entered the tournaments?”

Skeppy froze up for a split second, but didn’t say a single word, making Dave wait. Skeppy’s eyes were darting around the room during this interrogation, but at this question, he glanced up and locked with Techno’s gaze before instantly squeezing them shut. “I… don’t know.” His voice quieter than before.

Techno made an unsatisfied noise, “We’re trying to help you here and we kinda need your cooperation.”

“It was instinctual.” Skeppy’s voice was impossibly hushed, and he was subconsciously shrinking into himself, trying to make himself more unnoticeable.

“Zak…”

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know!” Both of his hands were covering his head, “Please don’t call me that. I don’t remember, I can’t remember, and my head hurts from trying to.” He was on the verge of tears, “I thought I just spawned in like all the other Players.”

“But you had fighter instincts, which we don’t spawn in with.”

“I just wanted to make a name for myself, I’m still learning about this world.”

“We can help you remember. We know professionals.” Dave offered, “It would benefit you as well as us. You can get your memories back, and we can get our friend back.”

Skeppy let out a shaky exhale, “What if I didn’t want to know?”

“Why would you not want to? There are people that you knew and that you were friends with. People that had hoped that you were still out there, fighting. They never got to say sorry or goodbye. Would you really decline?” Techno knew he was guilt tripping him, but his job was to get this Player back to report to BadBoyHalo. Like A6d said, ‘Doesn’t matter how you do it.’

A soft ‘ok’ signals the success of his mission, and hopefully the end of his communication with the rest of the team forever. He doesn’t need them haunting him too, was that too much to ask for?

The journey back to Munchy base was a tense and silent one. Well, mostly for Techno and Skeppy. The small group had gotten horses for the journey back, with Finnster and TapL trailing behind by a good 20 blocks, chatting amongst themselves softly.

Skeppy was riding his horse with his hood up and head down, clearly not paying attention to the road, while Techno’s thoughts were messed up with everything that had happened, from the trip down memory lane to Skeppy’s situation. The only reason he was able to keep his cool during the interrogation was because he could convince himself that it was part of his job, and jobs are to be taken seriously. Though, after that, he has no other excuse as to why he wasn’t treating Skeppy like a friend.

They used to be close after all.

Dave was debating if he should say anything, start a conversation or something, to make the mood less awkward. That debate lasted for 10 whole seconds before his social anxiety started acting up, causing him to stay quiet.

Yet, his resolve to not say anything was broken by Skeppy, “Hey… Techno?”

Dave fought to keep his voice level, “Yeah?”

“Can you, uh, tell me something about us?” Skeppy was squirming atop the horse awkwardly, trying to get his words out, “Like, we were friends right? We knew each other?”

“We were,” He paused to think about it, “I guess friends.”

“So… can you tell me something that I did? Maybe I can remember.”

He doubted it but it wouldn’t hurt to try, a voice in the back of his head said, and he racked his memories for a memory innocent enough to talk about. “There was this time, you tried to troll me in parkour.”

“Huh, really?”

“Yep, and you had an entire course prepared for me too.” Dave smirked a bit at the memory, “The blocks were supposed to move when I make the jump, so I’ll miss them. But, I saw through it and got around them without doing the actual parkour. You were so mad.”

Skeppy snorted, “I sound dumb.”

“You’ve had your dumb moments.”

“Can you tell me one that doesn’t include me sounding dumb.”

“Naah. You were always dumb.”

“Wow, okay.” Dave loved making fun of Zak, and he couldn’t resist with Skeppy or whoever Zak became. There was still a kind of melancholy atmosphere surrounding the situation, but he could learn how to include someone like Skeppy back into his life again, maybe.

The two horses behind trotted to catch up to them. Finnster nudged the others, “It’s almost nightfall guys, we gotta set up camp.”

“Alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't satisfied with this chapter lol, but I was stuck with this for over a month so eh.
> 
> EDIT (28/12/20): After some consideration and advice from a friend. I have decided to continue the story, and I’ll hopefully be able to do updates in a month. So, uh, if anyone still reads this, there’s your answer.


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